two roads diverged…and I chose!

Boy-oh-boy! Spring's mid-point is just about here already.

How are you doing with absorbing all of Spring's goodness… while, of course, dealing with this year's particularly aggressive Pollen Invasion? 

For me, all the goodness of Spring is showing up in my yard via azaeleas & lily-of-the-valley & bluebirds. They get all the oohs & ahhhs without apology!!

But, as always, every season gives us a new chance to show up for all the lessons Mama Nature is teaching so that we can access that wisdom WHENEVER we need it most! 

Like, right now in April…

• I'm in the Time to Let Go as I practice stepping back from my three daughters' divergent approaches to raising their assorted offspring. Lord have mercy; Christ have mercy because my tongue has bite marks in it from all the effort of keeping-my-mouth-shut!

• I'm in the Time to Say Good-bye as I eliminate some of my years' long food habits that are proving to be glucose-spikers and energy robbers. In fact, I'm into my second month of wearing a glucose monitor to help me decide what foods & habits to say good-bye to--what a gamechanger!

• I'm in the Time to Say Hello as I try out a dozen different easy-yet-crowd-pleasing recipes in preparation for our family beach vacation in a couple months + I'm also very early into playing around with my new Cricut Maker. I think I love it, but--do I really?Sigh.

• And, I'm in the Time to Hang On as I persevere through the work of getting my first journal written and published. This is really really provoking tons of brain sweat. Please send help. 

With all this happening right here, right now, I keep reminding myself that this is why I'm SOAKING UP all the Spring around me now, so that WHENEVER I practice Saying Hello to something new, I can pull from the Spring lessons Mama Nature is teaching me in the current season!

In our last newsletter, we began unpacking how the WSW's Cosmic Creative Cycle looks in real time by peeking into how the Time to Say Hello might look for the musician Dolly. You can re(read) that post here.

If you've ever struggled with…

 

-- making a decision, or 

--seeing something through once you've made a decision, or 

--giving yourself wholeheartedly to something that matters to you, 

then you're primed for some Time to Hang On transition practice!

Today, let's follow Dolly as she shifts into the portion of her Creative Cycle known as the Time to Hang On (aka, Summer). 

For Dolly, transitionig into her Time to Hang On naturally flows from time spent playing around with a bevy of the options she uncovered by spending enough time Saying Hello to--i.e. playing around with her creative possibilities.

Hanging On will most involve getting the songs for her next album written & ready to be shared.

 It her creativity is really flowing, she may even discover that a whole song pretty much comes together in a single session! Wow. 

Other times, a song evolves over repeated sessions of SHOWING UP to get 'er done. Whoa.

 The thing that gives her (and us!) a good foundation for Hanging On when we need to is investing real time & intention in first REALLY Saying Hello to enough things to create satisfactory decision-making.  

Social scientists who study such things report that humans feel the most satisfied in their decision-making if they are selecting from amongst 2 and 7 options. 

Any more than this, and it's too easy to become overwhelmed and either make a bad decision or refuse to make any decision at all (which, as it turns out, is making another kind of decision, albeit a passive one!).

The big thing is that practicing making creative decisions by first curating a managable list of viable options results in our being much more likely to fully commit to one of 'em-- you know, to SHOW UP & focus & work & problem-solve & persevere in supporting that decision until it reaches its natural maturity. 

Which, as it turns out, is EXACTLY the work of the season of Hanging On/Hanging In. 

takeaways

 I don't know about you, but nobody was really talking about how best prepare for a season of HANGING ON while I was growing up-- and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this. 

But guess what?

We can practice it NOW.

We need it. 

And so do those in our circle of influence.  

If you're mothering/mentoring any girl or younger woman right now, I'm encouraging you to make sure to model/teach directly HOW to practice creating viable choices BEFORE engaging in any decision making--especially if the decision falls into the BIG category. 

Like:  Should I go to college? Should I marry this person? Should I accept this job in another part of the world? 

These kind of decisions are easier to make & then commit to, if young women have some tools in their toolbox to support them in sound decision-making. 

And, watching us get vulnerable/transparent about our own messy, awkward practicing of this skill is one way to help them hone their own decision-making process.   

So, we've simply gotta let them in. 

Let's let them see us struggle with questions like--Should I retire? Should I accept a new position and move to another part of the world? Should I get the surgery? Should I try the new, big (scary) thing?

Let's show young women what it looks like/sounds like to do the creative work of transitioning from Saying Hello to Hanging On. 

 And, if a decision turns out to be a mistake, let's show them how to best respond.

 Instead of pretending to be perfect or hiding our imperfections, let's show them how to get intentional about learning from our mistakes, and then, regrouping to do the work of making another decision. 

 

And, in coaching them, let's remind each other that we're are also coaching ourselves into creating/living an authentic, beautiful, messy, awkward, juicy, transformative life, one decision at a time.

It's all about getting untangled and re-aligning with the unstoppable, DNA-embedded power of our natural biorhythms and drives.

 

Can we do it? Yes, we can.